The Battle of
Littleferry/Bonar Bridge/Skirmish at Golspie near Dunrobin 15th
April 1746

The Battle of
Littleferry/Bonar Bridge or the Skirmish at Golspie, south of
Dunrobin 15th April 1746, the day before the
Battle of Culloden was probably when
the two
Sinclairs in George Mackenzie, the 3rd Earl of Cromartie's
Regiment were taken prisoner.

The 18th Earl of Sutherland supported the Government against the
Jacobitesand raised a force against them, but disbanded them for
the harvest in 1745, while the Jacobites were in the south. The
Earl of Cromartie's force of around 500 took Dunrobin Castle in
February and the Earl of Sutherland narrowly escaped capture. In
April the Earl of Cromartie's Regiment was ordered to rejoin the
main Jacobite force. Three independent companies of Government
volunteers in the area, composed of Mackays and Sutherland
Militia decided to unite attack them.

"In pursuance of this resolution, Captain Macallister, who
commanded the Earl of Sutherland's militia, marched with his
company towards the water of Golspie, and having in his march
received intelligence that Cromarty's regiment had marched
towards the ferry, but that the earl himself with the greater
part of his officers was at Dunrobin Castle, he sent Ensign John
Mackay, with a party of 26 men, to intercept him. The earl left
the castle
with 14 officers on horseback, and a small party of well-armed
foot, to join his men, and would have fallen into an ambuscade
which Ensign Mackay had laid for him, had not some of the
Mackays begun to fire too soon. Lord Cromarty immediately
retraced his steps and took refuge in the castle, from the top
of the tower of which he displayed a white flag and rang a bell,
as a signal that he was attacked. The earl's men began
immediately to march
back to his relief, upon which Mackay and his party retired to
the adjacent high grounds. Meanwhile, the two independent
companies, which were to attack Cromarty's men in flank, arrived
at the hill of Culmaly, to the north west of Golspie, and
observing the insurgents returning from the ferry, and drawn up
in order of battle on a rising ground about a mile west from
Golspie, they concealed themselves on the top of the hill:
Captains Gray and
Sutherland, the commanders of the two companies, then descended
the hill to reconnoitre. They computed Cromarty's force to be
between 400 and 500 men; and, having resolved to attack them,
they returned to their men and gave orders to that effect. To
deceive the insurgents as to the extent of their numbers, they
marched down the hill in open column, keeping a distance of
about twenty paces between each rank; and so well did the ruse
succeed, that the insurgents, struck with a panic, fled towards
the ferry, and were pursued by the two companies, who, attacking
them in flank, killed a considerable number, and took 178
prisoners. The two companies thereupon marched to Dunrobin
castle, which they invested. The earl held out the castle till
the evening, when, despairing of relief, he requested the
commanders of the companies to hold a conference with him in the
castle on the subject of surrender. While engaged in
conversation, Ensign Mackay, who had entered the castle along
with two captains, went down stairs, and having informed the
earl's men below that he had surrendered, induced them to
deliver up their arms. Having secured their arms, he took the
keys from the porter, and, opening the gates, admitted his
party. He then went up stairs with them, and, entering the
dinning-room, seized the earl, Lord Macleod, and the whole
officers."

The Earl of Cromarty was condemned to death for treason but later pardoned,
but his title forfeit.